“And?” Noah tilted his brown head.

“Since it’s still in development, we don’t have a large database of people to compare it against just yet…”

Noah’s nose wrinkled, “So nothing?”

“On the contrary,” Fynn’s mouth curled up, “Since we didn’t have a database, I pulled up some footage of the last city council meeting for testing purposes. Who would have thought we’d actually manage to get a match.” Fynn’s smile disappeared, replaced by a frown, “Too bad that the technology is still experimental, and its results aren’t yet considered reliable enough to be used in court.”

Noah leaned forward towards the light screen, his little butt nearly slipping off the sofa, “Heh, for testing purposes, you say? Weren’t you trying to check whether this person is councilor Desmond?”

Fynn’s frown was once again replaced by a guilty-as-charged look, and he scratched his head sheepishly, “He is one of the shareholders of Druxa, and the main advocate for the monitoring and limiting the freedom of high ranked power users. I’m rightfully suspicious.”

“So, it IS him?”

Fynn nodded, “The match rate is pretty high, but like I said, it can’t be used as evidence. In fact, with just this, I might not even be able to get him to visit the station for questioning.”

Noah tapped his chin thoughtfully, “A lot of things would make sense if he was indeed involved. As a shareholder, it wouldn’t be hard for him to get access to the lab. And he would probably also be privy to the information about what is being researched inside. Also, councilor Desmond has been trying to make power registration mandatory for years now, claiming that high-ranked power users who hide their powers are a danger to society. Having the mentioned high-ranked power users go on a power rampage would only serve to promote his cause.”

“I’ve been thinking along these lines as well,” Fynn nodded, “He has the means and the motive. And he also happens to be an unscrupulous old bastard who has been opposing your father at every turn for decades.” Fynn glanced towards Levi’s scrunched-up face and added, “He’s not a big fan of the union of the two cities either. He has been trying to stop the marriage ever since it was announce–”

Fynn’s words were interrupted by Levi slamming his fist down on the coffee table with fire in his eyes. ‘Guilty or not, this old fart has to go down!!!’ (ꐦ °Д°)

Noah instinctively wrapped his soothing around Levi and patted the other’s thigh for good measure. After finishing these well-practiced series of actions, Noah was just about to take his little hand away when this fiancé of his covered it with his own, intertwining their fingers together intimately.

Noah’s ears instantly heated up, and he tried hard to ignore the sharp stare directed at them by his father, who was peeking at them from the dining room.

It–it was just holding hands! It’s not like it was something inappropriate… it–it should be fine if it was just holding hands, ah! (⁄ ⁄> ﹏

“That–that... if–if councilor Desmond was indeed guilty…then–then if you managed to have a word with him…would–would that be enough to make an arrest?” Noah desperately tried to distract his wandering mind back to the important matters at hand. “It is highly likely that he would refuse to answer any of your questions…”

Fynn stared at him with dead-fish eyes. He couldn’t see the two men touching each other, and he couldn’t even feel the sugary intents over the call, but… he was a professional law enforcement investigator! He still knew what was happening even if he couldn’t see or feel it just by hearing that stutter and seeing those pink ears!!! ಥ‿ಥ

“No, it wouldn’t be enough to put him behind bars, but…” Fynn’s voice seemed a bit dry, “He doesn’t need to say anything. As long as I can feel his intents, I’ll be able to pick up whether he is involved or not. And a testimony of an Intenter investigator is enough to get a search warrant and bring him in for questioning. With official approval to fully dig into him, we are bound to discover something incriminating.”

Noah rubbed his chin and then nonchalantly asked, “Fynn… you are coming to our wedding, right?”

The sudden change in topic sent Fynn’s mind for a spin. “Uh… yes? You did send me an invitation, after all…”

“That’s good,” Noah’s eyes suddenly curved, “Because I just remembered that my father sent the wedding invitations to most of the influential Concordians – councilor Desmond included…”

Fynn’s befuddled mind cleared up instantly. If councilor Desmond would be at the wedding, then he would be able to mingle with the other guests to approach him! Councilor Desmond could avoid meeting him, claiming to be far too busy for such nonsense, but how would he dodge him at the wedding?

Fynn’s look towards Noah turned profound, “Aren’t you worried I would stir up trouble at your wedding?”

“On the contrary,” Noah smiled very innocently, “Wouldn’t catching those that are after my life be the best wedding gift?” Noah glanced towards Levi, “What do you think? Are you afraid of Fynn causing trouble?”

Levi squeezed his hand, “Afraid? I’m looking forward to it. There can only be trouble if Desmond is guilty. Innocent men would not make trouble by just having a word with the law enforcement. And I too think that catching the culprits would be the best possible wedding gift.”

Only if the terrorists were safely behind bars would he be able to fully relax and enjoy his honeymoon. ❤ (⺣◡⺣)

“Then that’s that,” Noah put the lid on the matter, “We’ll know whether he is the one behind the terrorist attacks in two days. In the meantime, we need to rule out everyone else who had access to the lab. Did you question the rest of the people yet?”

“Yes, we finished all the questionings this morning, just before you showed up at the station. Judging by their intents, we ruled out everyone’s connection to the terrorists, leaving us with just three suspects. 1) Asan, whom we have not found yet, 2) the man we suspect to be councilor Desmond, and lastly, the Ghost.”

“The Ghost?” Noah’s eyebrows shot up.

Fynn’s expression turned helpless, “That’s how we are calling the second unidentified communicator number.” Before Noah could question why, Fynn pulled up a ground plan of the lab on his communicator and shared the view with the duo, “It’s like this… every lab on this floor is a closed room with just one entrance and no windows. The door leading into the lab is locked electronically, and people who are allowed entry into the lab can unlock it with their communicators. Every time those electronic doors open, whether it be from the inside or the outside, the time and the communicator number used to unlock them is registered in the access logs.”

Fynn pointed to the lab entrance on the ground plan and then slid his finger down the hallway leading to it. It was a long and straight corridor that led not just to the lab where the mental power drug was developed but to four other labs as well. It was like a hallway of an apartment building that led to all of the apartments on that floor.

Out of six doors in and out of that hallway, five of them were the electronic doors leading to labs, and the sixth was used to access the hallway from the entrance hall. Fynn pointed to the entrance hall on the other side of that door, “We have surveillance footage of the entrance hall, so we can tell who entered the hallway and when. Checking that against the records of entry into the labs themselves, we were able to deduce that one of the unknown communicator numbers belongs to the person suspected to be councilor Desmond. As for the other unknown number…”